Inconsistent loading of night lighting (_L.bmp files)

[old_wombat]

Hmmm. I have made some static.bgl models from various flyable model.mdl files. In all cases, the flyable aircraft have _L.bmp files that are used in FS9 to create night lighting on the model.

In most cases, however, the event log for MCX both version 1.3 and 1.4 shows that it does not read those _L.bmp files, and therefore creates a static.BGL that at night time (in both MCX and FS9) is completely dark. Anticipating that you might ask for an example, the MS supplied default Boeing 737-400 is an example of one that "does not work". Wot am I doing wrong here?

 

[=rk=]

It seems like you perhaps missed a paragraph, the one about what you did. Did you export the model as a scenery object? Did you reassign/convert/rename textures, or did you intend MDX do those conversions? I don't have FS9, but I have sucessfully converted and rendered many FS2004 type models into FSX/P3D; therefore I am not able to confirm that the default 737-400 will indeed convert like all the others. Are you able to provide a link to a model? If not, perhaps you could select one of these Mike Stone models for which the problem occurs? These were all compiled for FS2004.

 

[old_wombat]

Rick, thank you for your reply. Tom Gibson on the FlightSim forum has given me the answer. In the first model that I made, the Import process "automatically" filled in the Night Texture section of the Material Editor. So, when the other imports did not do this, I of course did not realized that, so I had no idea what was "wrong".

To answer your question, this is what I did. Import the flyable.mdl file. Fix all the animations into the positions I wanted them. Export the result into a static.bgl as a Scenery Object. That is *all* that I did. And it worked fine, as it always has. The only thing that was "wrong" was that it did not use the night textures. I did absolutely nothing with textures. In fact the whole point of this was to end up with a static model that looks exactly like the flyable one!

You might have misunderstood one thing I said; mea culpa, my bad phrasing. When I said that the default 737-400 "did not work", I only meant in the sense that it did not load the night lighting. Other than that, it converted completely and correctly.

You ask about the Mike Stone models. I have his fabulous and quite hilarious B52M, so I tried it with that. Both MCX versions did not load the _L.bmp files, which are supplied with that model.

I see this as an error in MCX. The error is in the inconsistency. That for some models it automatically assigns night textures, for others, it does not. This is quite clear from the event log. In some cases it "preemptively" opens the _L files on import; in most cases, it does not. I have both Stable Release 1.3.0.0, and 1.4.0.0 DEV 4/01/2015; they both behave the same way in this regard.

Having said all that, once you know the solution, it is a minor error. You're not going to make hundreds of different static models every day! And even the most complex models have only a handful of files. Having to fill in one data field per texture file via a Select_File is not that onerous a task.

 

[=rk=]

I see this as an error in MCX. The error is in the inconsistency. That for some models it automatically assigns night textures, for others, it does not. This is quite clear from the event log. In some cases it "preemptively" opens the _L files on import; in most cases, it does not. I have both Stable Release 1.3.0.0, and 1.4.0.0 DEV 4/01/2015; they both behave the same way in this regard.

Glad you got it but you should understand it is probably not an error in MCX. Neither version of the sim forces a naming convention on any files. It is customary to use the suffixes "_L." "_T," etc., to simplify identification of various texture sub-types, but in reality those textures, with any name, must be assigned by the artist and as such can't be reliably included at the time of compilation. I do not believe MCX automatically opens some "_L" suffixed files and not others, I believe on further research you would find some file structure discrepancy, or other issue that prevented previously assigned textures from being assigned in the compilation. I am not disputing your findings, just suggestion that with my experience with MCX it to be more likely the case. Nonetheless I am sure Tom very knowledgeably gave you the solution and if there is any issue please feel free to raise it.

 

[tgibson]

I agree, some MDL files probably specify the _L files, and others don't. I know that when I create an aircraft MDL file in GMAX for FS2004 I do not need to specify an Emissive or Self Illumination texture and the _L textures still work at night. But perhaps FSDS does specify that _L file in the MDL somehow. Or the FSX exporter does specify it, but the FS2004 exporter does not. Things like that.

 

[Lane Street]

Speaking specifically to the Mike Stone B-52M, despite the fact that their are *_L.BMP files in the download, if you look at the Material Editor in MCX you will see that they are not being called by the model.

BTW, in the Material Editor you can easily "add a night texture" with one click and not have to "Select_File", making it even less onerous of a task.

Interestingly though when looking at this FS9 model in MCX I see that there are Specular textures assigned to this model, something I did not think the FS9 model supported.

Is this perhaps something Arno needs to look into? Could it be that MCX is misreading night texture calls as spec texture calls in the model?

The model is available here- http://www.gjsmith.net/Mike-Stone/Page_2.htm

I tested with MCX 1.4 dated 1/1/2016 (yes, I know it is old).

cheers,
Lane

 

[old_wombat]

I do not believe MCX automatically opens some "_L" suffixed files and not others,

Hah! Well, that is what happens, and that was exactly my point. I give you several examples.

Oh the Flightsim forum, there is for FS9 the Camsim Boeing 787-800 with Animated Ground Servicing (AGS) in Qantas livery. MCX 1.3 and 1.4 both pick up the _L files on initial import. Reviewing all my static models, this appears to be the only one that does so. Looking at only default MS supplied models (because everyone has them), the Boeing 737-400, The Cessna 172, Boeing 777, do not. They all have_L night textures.

All of these flyable models all open their night textures correctly, as you can see when you turn on the landing lights. I would "intuitively expect" that MCX would do the same as what FS does in this regard - that is, to look in the MDL file for night textures and open them. Perhaps not necessarily on initial import, but certainly when the Night View is selected. Which is does not. But look, to repeat, this is now totally academic. We have a simple solution. And to be perhaps a little bit cynical, if we have a "solution", them by definition there must be a "problem". I am now happy to consider this issue closed.

 

[arno]

All of these flyable models all open their night textures correctly, as you can see when you turn on the landing lights. I would "intuitively expect" that MCX would do the same as what FS does in this regard - that is, to look in the MDL file for night textures and open them. Perhaps not necessarily on initial import, but certainly when the Night View is selected. Which is does not. But look, to repeat, this is now totally academic. We have a simple solution. And to be perhaps a little bit cynical, if we have a "solution", them by definition there must be a "problem". I am now happy to consider this issue closed.

MCX uses the information in the MDL file and for some reason it seems the night texture is not defined in there. It could be that MCX is not reading the information correctly and it is actually in the MDL. Or maybe FS2004 does some special logic and adds the night texture even when it is not defined in the MDL file. I have to say that airport import for pre-FSX models is still limited in MCX, not all parts are implemented yet.

 

[tgibson]

Hi,

Yes Arno I think that is correct - for FS2004 MDL files the night texture does not have to be specified in the model (I certainly never specify it in the GMAX materials) and it is still used by FS. I believe that for FS2004 if you use _T as the extension for a texture in GMAX, FS2004 will look for and load a file with an _L extension whether specified in the MDL or not.